Balakrishnan's daughter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she was "overwhelmed with relief".

She added: "I believe justice has definitely been done.

"I am very happy with the result and, at the end of the day, he is still my dad."

Image copyrightPAImage captionBalakrishnan carried out a "brutal" campaign of violence at the commune

Det Sgt Paul Wiggett said the cult leader's daughter was scared of her father and that she "genuinely believed the day she left the house she was going to explode - that her life would come to an end".

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The woman was born to Balakrishnan follower Sian Davies, who was known as Comrade Sian, but the then 13-year-old was unaware she was her mother.

Sian Davies suffered fatal injuries when she fell from a window at the cult's home on Christmas Eve in 1996.

Balakrishnan's daughter told the court she was beaten and banned from singing nursery rhymes, going to school or making friends.

Describing herself as a "caged bird", the woman escaped in 2013 at the age of 30 with the help of a charity.

Speaking about her escape she told the court: "If I hadn't [died] from diabetes I would have committed suicide, because I just couldn't bear feeling like that any more."I just had enough. I didn't want to live like an animal any more."

Image copyrightMetropolitan PoliceImage captionBalakrishnan's daughter said she felt like a 'felt like a caged bird with clipped wings'

Speaking about life inside the commune, the imprisoned woman said: "I felt like a

Speaking about life inside the commune, the imprisoned woman said: "I felt like a caged bird with clipped wings. Like a fly in a spider's web."

The court heard she found courage to fight back from the stories of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings - the only books she was allowed to read because Balakrishnan identified with the characters.

In 2005, then in her 20s, she made an escape and went to a police station, but the court heard she was encouraged to return home.

Image copyrightMetropolitan PoliceImage captionAn undated photo of Aravindan Balakrishnan with members of the cult, including his daughter

Balakrishnan came to the UK from Singapore in 1963 and enrolled at the London School of Economics.

By the 1970s he was heading a Maoist group known as the Workers Institute, based in Acre Lane, Brixton, and had gained several followers.

But over the years this group dwindled to six women and was transformed into a "cult of Bala", where his followers were only allowed to read left-wing texts and were sexually assaulted and beaten.

Giving evidence, Balakrishnan denied sex assault allegations and insisted two victims in the commune had "pushed" him to have sex and competed for his attentions, even with the mother of his daughter.

He said his views were grounded in the teachings of the Chinese revolutionary leader Chairman Mao which "meant almost everything to him".After the verdict one of the defendant's former followers, Josephine Herivel, who was present in court, shouted: "You are sending an innocent man to prison. Shame on you."

Balakrishnan, who was originally arrested in November 2013, was cleared of one count of actual bodily harm and one count of indecent assault.